11 Stages Of Writing Your Dissertation

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It’s that time of the year.. you’re getting started on your dissertation, and everything seems to be running pretty smoothly right now. You’ve worked for years for this, and you’ve worked hard too. From school and college to the last few years at uni, you’ve listened, taken notes, taken exams, and now it’s time for the big one. The dissertation. Before you get started (if you already have, well done you!), take a look at the 11 Stages of Writing Your Dissertation so you know exactly what to expect for the next few months.

You have all the notes from the last 2 and a half years, everywhere. You read them, you spend hours highlighting them, but you still have no idea what’s going on. Are you sure you wrote these notes? Did you even go to these lectures? How are these notes even useful when you need to spend weeks researching?! Well, reading them, or more importantly, highlighting them, must be helping… right?

You spend the next few weeks organising your time, notes, books, pens … anything you can organise to avoid doing the actual work. Maybe a little bit more highlighting too.

You spent that long organising and planning your work time, along with the odd bit of procrastination in the form of a series or 5 on Netflix, that you now have a couple of weeks to finish (or start) your dissertation. The panic kicks in, and you contemplate running away.

Your friend subtly drops hints that she handed hers in three weeks ago. You should be happy for her, congratulate her in fact. Instead you choose to ignore them and tell yourself that yours is clearly more complicated and in depth.. this has nothing to do with the procrastination… at all.

Next comes the breakdown to your tutor. Don’t worry, they’ve seen this a hundred times before. You have a cry, and they assure you that with focus and commitment, you can do it. Now you’re inspired!

The library becomes your home for a few weeks. You spend every waking hour in there. When someone is in your usual spot, you feel very uneasy. You start to recognise every one in there, until one day someone is missing. They’ve either finished (unlikely) or the dissertation was just too much..

Not only is your diet terrible, but now you’re wearing the same pair of sweatpants and jumper every day, along with the scruffiest unintentionally ‘messy bun’, mainly because you haven’t washed or brushed your hair in a few days.

It’s finally finished. The final step before handing it in? Printing and binding. Easy right? HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO PAY?! I’LL NEED ANOTHER STUDENT LOAN FOR THIS!

You have half an hour to get from your house to your tutors office to hand in. No time to wash. No time to get changed. Now comes the sprint over the final hurdle, dressed in your PJ’s and trainers (fetching).

It’s done. It’s finally over. What do you do with all of your spare time now? Ah yes…

Are you writing your dissertation at the moment? Which stage are you going through right now?